Formal Logic (NP Mods Logic)

This subject is precisely what its name suggests, an extension of the symbolic logic covered in the Prelims/Mods logic course. Only in highly exceptional circumstances would it be appropriate to do this subject without first having done Prelims/Mods logic, indeed without first having done it very well. Formal Logic is an extremely demanding and rigorous subject, even for those who have Mathematics A Level. If you lose your way in it, there is liable to be no way of avoiding disaster. But granted these caveats, the subject is a delight to those who enjoy formal work and who are good at it. Its purpose is to introduce you to some of the deepest and most beautiful results in logic, many of which have fascinating implications for other areas of philosophy. The paper will contain questions in three sections. Propositional and Predicate Logic is the most closely related to the material covered in the Prelims/Mods course. The remaining two are Set Theory, which includes the rudimentary arithmetic of infinite numbers; and Metamathematics, which includes some computability theory and various results concerning the limitations of formalization, such as Gödel’s theorem. You are not required to study all of these areas, and in the examination (where you must answer three questions) you have a free choice of question.

George S. Boolos and Richard C. Jeffrey, Computability and Logic (Cambridge, 3rd edn.)